Microsoft's 2026 Sustainability Report shows the company's carbon emissions jumped 25 percent in 2025, reaching 34 million metric tons. The main driver was rapid expansion of AI data centres. Microsoft also stopped buying non-additional renewable energy certificates, which contributed to the increase. The company's goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030 is now harder to reach. Google and Amazon reported similar emissions increases as the AI boom drives massive data centre buildout. Meta is planning a 1.8 GW data centre in Alberta that could consume as much electricity as 800,000 homes. Water use is also rising, with Amazon's data centres withdrawing 2.5 billion gallons in 2025. The report shows sustainability solutions are not scaling fast enough to match AI infrastructure growth.
